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LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY    OF 
CALIFORNIA 


MR.  JACOBS 


A   TALE 


OF 


THE     DRUMMER     THE      REPORTER 
AND    THE    PRESTIDIGITATEUR 


BOSTON 

W.   B.   CLARKE  &   CARRUTH 

1883 


MR.    JACOBS. 


CHAPTER   I. 

IN  spite  of  Jean-Jacques  and  bis 
school,  men  are  not  everywhere,  es 
pecially  in  countries  where  excessive 
liberty  or  excessive  tiffin  favors  the 
growth  of  that  class  of  adventurers  most 
usually  designated  as  drummers,  or  by  a 
still  more  potent  servility,  the  ruthless 
predatory  instinct  of  certain  bold  and 
unscrupulous  persons  may  and  almost 
certainly  will ;  and  in  those  more  numer 
ous  and  certainly  more  happy  countries 
where  the  travelling  show  is  discouraged, 


MR.  JACOBS. 

the  unwearying  flatterer,  patient  under 
abstemious  high-feeding,  will  assuredly 
become  a  roving  sleight-of-hand  man. 

Without  doubt  the  Eastern  portion  of 
the  world,  when  an  hereditary,  or,  at 
least,  a  traditional,  if  not  customary,  or, 
perhaps,  conservative,  not  to  say  legenda 
ry,  or,  more  correctly  speaking,  historic, 
despotism  has  never  ceased  to  ingrain 
the  blood  of  Russia,  Chinese,  Ottoman, 
Persia,  India,  British,  or  Nantasket,  in 
a  perfect  instance  of  a  ruthless  military 
tiffin,  where  neither  blood  nor  strategem 
have  been  spared.1 

I  was  at  tiffin.      A  man  sat  opposite 

1  The  editor  was  here  obliged  to  omit  a  score  of  pages 
in  which  the  only  thing  worth  preserving  was  a  carcanet 
of  sulphur  springs. 


MR.   JACOBS.  5 

whose  servant  brought  him  water  in  a 
large  goblet  cut  from  a  single  emerald. 
I  observed  him  closely.  A  water-drinker 
is  always  a  phenomenon  to  me  ;  but  a 
water-drinker  who  did  the  thing  so 
artistically,-  and  could  swallow  the  fluid 
without  wincing,  was  such  a  manifesta 
tion  as  I  had  never  seen. 

I  contrasted  him  with  our  neighbors  at 
the  lunch-counter,  who  seemed  to  be 
vying,  like  the  captives  of  Circe,  to 
ascertain  by  trial  who  could  swallow  the 
most  free  lunch,  and  pay  for  the  fewest 
"  pegs,"  —  those  vile  concoctions  of  spir 
its,  ice,  and  soda-water,  which  have 
destroyed  so  many  splendid  resolutions 
on  the  part  of  the  Temperance  Alliance,  — 
and  an  impression  came  over  me  that  he 


0  MR.   JACOBS. 

must  be  the  most  innocent  man  on  the 
road. 

Before  I  go  farther  let  me  try  and 
describe  him.  His  peculiarity  was  that, 
instead  of  eyes,  he  had  jewels  composed 
of  six  precious  stones.  There  was  a 
depth  of  life  and  vital  light  in  them  that 
told  of  the  pent-up  force  of  a  hundred, 
or,  at  least,  of  ninety-nine  generations  of 
Persian  magi.  They  blazed  with  the 
splendor  of  a  god-like  nature,  needing 
neither  tiffin  nor  brandy  and  soda  to 
feed  their  power. 

My  mind  was  made  up.  I  addressed 
him  in  Gaelic.  To  my  surprise,  and 
somewhat  to  my  confusion,  he  answered 
in  two  words  of  modern  Hebrew.  We 
fell  into  a  polyglot  but  refined  conver 
sation. 


MR.   JACOBS.  / 

"  Come  and  smoke,"  he  said,  at 
length. 

Slipping  into  the  office  of  the  hotel, 
and  ascertaining  that  there  was  no 
danger,  I  followed  to  his  room. 

UI  am  known  as  Mr.  Jacobs,"  he 
said.  "My  lawful  name  is  Abdallah 
Hafiz-ben-bntler-  Jacobi. " 

The  apartment,  I  soon  saw,  was 
small,  —  for  India  at  least,  —  and  every 
available  space,  nook,  and  cranny,  were 
filled  with  innumerable  show-cases  of 
Attleboro'  jewelry. 

u  Pretty  showy?"  he  remarked  famil- 
iarl}r.  u  I  am  a  drummer." 

"My  name  is  Peter  Briggs,"  I 
replied.  "I  am  a  correspondent  of  the 
Calcutta  Jackal" 

u  My  star!"  he  said.     "That  is  the 


MR.   JACOBS. 

dog-star.  A  sudden  thought  strikes 
me,"  he  added.  "Let  us  swear  an 
eternal  friendship." 

He  thereupon  told  me  his  entire  his 
tory,  from  childhood  up.  It  was  inter 
esting  to  the  last  degree,  as  I  had 
thought  often  before,  when  I  read  it  in 
various  dime  novels. 

He  ceased  speaking,  and  the  waning 
moon  rose  pathetically,  with  a  curiously 
doleful  look,  expressive  of  quiet,  but 
deep  contempt. 


MR.  JACOBS. 


CHAPTER   II. 

THE  next  morning  I  had  tiffin. 

I  speculated  in  regard  to  Mr.  Jacobs. 
A  long  and  eventful  experience  with 
three-card  monte  men  had  made  me  ex 
tremely  shy  of  persons  who  begin  an 
acquaintance  by  making  confidences ; 
and  I  wondered  why  he  had  taken  the 
trouble  to  make  up  the  story  of  his  life, 
to  relate  to  an  entire  stranger.  Still, 
there  was  something  about  the  man  that 
seemed  to  promise  an  item  for  the  Calcutta 
Jackal,  and  therefore,  when  Jacobs  ap 
peared,  looking  like  the  sunflower,  for 
all  his  wild  dress  and  his  knee-breeches, 
I  felt  the  "  little  thrill  of  pleasure,"  so 


10  MR.   JACOBS. 

aptly  compared  by  Swinburne  to  the 
clutch  of  a  hand  in  the  hair. 

"  Are  you  married?'3  queried  Mr. 
Jacobs. 

u  Thank  heavens,  no  !  "  I  replied,  con 
vulsively.  "  Are  you?  " 

"  Some,"  returned  he,  gloomily.  "  I 
have  three.  They  do  not  agree.  Do 
you  think  a  fourth  wife  would  calm 
them?" 

u  A  man,"  I  observed,  sententiously, 
"  is  better  off  with  no  wife  at  all  than 
with  three." 

His  subtle  mind  caught  the  flaw  in 
stantly. 

u  Negative  happiness,"  he  murmured ; 
"  very  negative.  Oh,  I  would  I  could 
marry  all  the  sweet  creatures!" 

Having  our  tiffins  saddled,  we  rode  off 


MR.  JACOBS.  11 

at  a  breakneck  pace,  and  cleverly  man 
aged  to  ride  down  the  uncle  of  the 
heroine. 

"  Dear  uncle,"  casually  remarked  that 
young  lady,  riding  up,  "  I  hope  you  are 
not  hurt." 

"What  an  original  remark!"  ex 
claimed  Jacobs,  with  rapture.  "  Miss 
Eastinhoe  is  beautiful  and  sensible.  I 
like  her.  What  do  you  suppose  she  is 
worth?'' 


12  ME.  JACOBS. 


CHAPTER   III. 

HAVING  tiffined,  we  reclined  upon  a 
divan. 

"  My  father,"  said  Mr.  Jacobs,  "  had 
but  one  wife ;  I  have  already  raised  him 
two,  as  I  told  you,  and  mean  to  go  him 
one  better." 

I  smoked  in  silence. 

"  A  hint  for  the  Calcutta  Jackal"  I 
thought,  with  satisfaction.  u  Bigamy 
raised  to  the  third  power." 

"You  are  right,"  he  said,  slowly,  his 
half -closed  eyes  fixed  on  his  feet ;  "  yes, 
you  are  right.  But  why  not?  " 

I  shook  myself,  drank  some  sherbert, 
and  kicked  off  one  shoe  impatiently. 


MR.  JACOBS.  13 

This  reading  of  a  gentleman's  private 
thoughts  seemed  to  me  an  unwarrantable 
impertinence  ;  but  a  sudden  light  flashed 
over  my  obscured  intellect,  and,  observ 
ing  that  he  was  in  a  trance,  I  felt  it 
would  be  indelicate  to  argue  the  matter. 
I  fired  my  shoe  at  him,  to  assure  myself 
of  his  condition,  and  then  held  a  free 
pass  towards  him.  He  instantly  re 
covered,  and  stretched  out  his  hand  to 
take  it. 

"  I  must  have  been  dreaming,"  he 
said,  a  look  of  annoyance  shading  his 
features  as  I  drew  the  pass  away.  u  But 
I  am  in  love." 

It  was  near  midnight,  and  the  ever- 
decreasing  moon  was  dragging  herself 
up,  as  if  ashamed  of  her  waning  beauty 
and  tearful  look. 


14  MR.   JACOBS. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

WE  called  upon  Miss  Eastinhoe  the 
following  day.  She  was  playing 
with  a  half -tamed  young  tiffin,  a  charm 
ing  little  beast,  with  long  gray  fur  and 
bright  twinkling  eye,  mischievous  and 
merry  as  a  gnome's.  He  was  a  gift  of 
Mr.  Jacobs  to  the  lady.  He  cost 
nothing. 

"  Are  you  spoken  for?"  Miss  East 
inhoe  asked,  her  eyes  opening  a  moment 
and  meeting  his,  but  falling  again  in 
stantly  with  a  change  of  color.1 

1  The  editor  had  his  doubts  about  this ;  but  as  it  so 
stands  in  the  original  MS.  (p.  69),  concludes  that  in  low 
latitudes,  eyes  do  change  color  on  slight  provocation. 


MR.   JACOBS.  15 

"  Miss  Eastinhoe,"  he  said,  quietly, 
"  you  know  I  am  a  man  of  muscle,  and 
that  I  have  three  wives." 

"  Oh,  I  had  forgotten  !  "  she  said ;  "  I 
forgot  about  your  wives." 

"  Among  primitive  people,  and  per 
sons  in  pinafores,"  I  interposed,  u  mar 
riage  is  a  social  law." 

u  You  surprise  me,  Mr.  Briggs,"  she 
said,  with  an  air  of  childlike  simplicity. 

I  felt  that  I  had  put  a  plug  into  my 
end  of  the  conversation. 

"  We  will  play  polo  next  week,"  said 
Mr.  Jacobs.  "  Meanwhile,  let  us  visit 
a  Certain  Mighty  Personage." 


16  MR.   JACOBS. 


CHAPTER   V. 

"  WE  will  go  at  four/*  said  Jacobs, 
coming  into  my  room  after  tiffin.  "I 
said  three  this  morning,  but  it  is  not  a 
bad  plan  to  keep  natives  waiting." 

"Why  do  we  go?"  I  inquired, 
languidly. 

"The  Certain  Mighty  Personage  has 
a  prisoner  whom  I  wish  to  purchase." 

"  Who  is  it?" 

Leaning  over  until  his  mouth  almost 
touched  my  ear,  he  whispered  quietly : 

"Number  One." 

"The  devil,  you  say!"  I  ejaculated, 
surprised  out  of  grammar  and  decorum 
by  the  startling  news. 


MR.   JACOBS.  17 

"  Are  you  thinking  of  marrying  Miss 
Eastinhoe?"  I  demanded,  after  a  pause 
of  some  tiffins. 

"Yes,"  he  answered,  "if  her  settle 
ments  are  satisfactory." 

Arrived  at  the  residence  of  the 
Certain  Mighty  Personage,  we  were 
received  in  a  jemadar  where  a  sahib 
charpoyed  the  sowans  and  tiffined  the 
maharajah. 

"  Til  have  you  exposed  in  the 
newspapers,"  said  Jacobs,  sternly,  to 
the  Certain  Mighty  Personage,  "  if 
you  do  not  deliver  into  my  hands, 
before  the  dark  half  of  the  next 
moon,  the  man  Number  One." 

The  Uncertain  Mighty  Personage 
signed  a  contract  to  that  effect,  with 
extreme  reluctance,  and  with  many 


18  MR.   JACOBS. 

forcible   remarks   disrespectful   to    both 
the  ancestors  and    posterit}r  of   Jacobs. 

"  What  do  you  want  of  Number 
One?"  I  inquired,  as  we  rode  away. 

"  He  is  the  only  man  alive  that  can 
keep  a  plated  watch  from  turning  black 
in  this  accursed  climate." 

u  But  why  did  you  bring  me  along, 
when  you  didn't  need  me?" 

"  To  frighten  him  with  the  threat 
of  the  Calcutta  Jackal.  Besides,  how 
else  could  you  tell  the  story?" 


MR.  JACOBS.  19 


CHAPTER  VI. 

WE  rode  our  tiffins  back  and  met 
Miss  Eastinhoe  with  her  friends. 

"  Let  us  go  on  a  tiger-hunt,"  we 
all  remarked,  casually. 

As  we  drove  home  a  voice  suddenly 
broke  on  the  darkness.1 

"  Peace,  Abdallah  Hafiz,"  it  said. 

4 'By  the  holy  poker,  the  Jibena- 
inosay ! "  answered  Jacobs,  who  had 
recognized  the  broken  voice. 

4il  have  business  with  thee,"  con 
tinued  the  voice;  "  I  will  be  with  thee, 


1  Another   curious   Oriental  phenomenon,  not    suffi 
ciently  explained  by  the  author. 


20  MR.   JACOBS. 

"It  is  Lamb  Ral,"  my  companion 
explained,  as  the  voice  faded  away. 
"  Facetious  as  ever;  now  you  have 
him,  and  then  again  you  don't  have 
him.  We  call  him  the  Little  Joker,  for 
short." 

"Isn't  he  difficult  to  explain?"  I 
ventured. 

"Very,"  he  said.  "But  who  has 
ever  explained  how  a  man  could  keep 
his  family  up  for  years  with  no  visible 
means  of  support ;  or  how  a  person 
can  promenade  on  his  ear ;  or  crawl  into 
a  hole  and  pull  the  hole  in  after  him. 
And  yet  you  have  seen  those  things, 
I  have  seen  them,  everybody  has  seen 
them,  and  most  of  us  have  done  them 
ourselves." 


MR.   JACOBS.  21 

Later  in  the  evening  we  were  visited 
by  Lamb  Ral. 

"  Do  not  go  tiger-hunting,"  he  said. 
"  It  will  take  you  out  of  the  lines  of  the 
jewellery  trade." 

"  Still  I  shall  go,7'  persisted  Jacobs 

"  What  a  singular  piece  of  workman 
ship  is  that  ytaghan  !  "  observed  Lamb 
Ral,  waving  one  delicate  hand  towards 
the  wall  behind  us. 

When  we  turned  back  from  seeing 
that  there  was  no  ytaghan  there,  the 
magician  had  disappeared,  leaving  a 
strong  smell  of  lucifer  matches  behind 
him,  but  taking  a  number  of  triple-plated 
watches. 

u  Singular  man,"  said  Jacobs,  mus 
ingly.  u  I  wish  I  knew  how  he  does  it. 
It  must  be  profitable." 


22  MR.  JACOBS. 


CHAPTEE   VII. 

WE  had  tiffin  with  Miss  Eastiuhoe. 
Mr.  Jacobs,  in  evening  dress,  looked  sur 
passingly  lovely. 


MR.   JACOBS.  23 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

IN  the  third  game  of  polo  a  clumsy 
player  struck  Mr.  Jacobs  on  the  back  of 
his  head,  laying  open  his  skull.  The 
wounded  man  fell  from  his  saddle,  but 
his  foot  caught  in  the  stirrup,  and  he  was 
dragged  several  miles  by  the  infuriated 
Arab  pony. 

4 'Don't  give  him  brandy,"  remarked 
Miss  Eastinhoe,  calmly.  u  Water  will  do 
quite  as  well.  It  is  cheaper,  and  as  he 
is  insensible,  he  will  not  know  the  dif 
ference." 

u  Thank  you,"  replied  Jacobs,  grace 
fully  tying  his  head  together  with  a 


26  MR.   JACOBS. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

WE  started  on  our  tiger-hunt.  Miss 
Eastinhoe  rode  on  an  elephant,  about 
which  Jacobs,  who  loved  the  saddle, 
circled  gayly,  keeping  up  a  fire  of 
little  compliments  arid  pretty  speeches 
of  which  he  had  thoughtfully  brought 
a  tiffinful  with  him,  but  to  which  the  lady 
very  fortunately  soon  became  inured. 
He  had  also  taken  the  precaution  to 
have  relays  of  runners  bring  fresh 
roses  half-way  across  India  every 
morning  for  Miss  Eastinhoe,  whom  he 
amused  meantime  by  playing  beau 
tifully  on  the  tiffin  and  warbling 
Persian  love-songs. 


MR.  JACOBS.  27 


CHAPTER   X 

GUIDED  only  by  a  native  tiffin,  upon 
whom  he  showered  an  astonishing  pro 
fusion  of  opprobrious  epithets,  Mr. 
Jacobs  went  forth  in  the  dark  and  stilly 
night,  and  slaughtered  a  huge  man- 
eating  tiger,  for  whose  ears  Miss  East- 
inhoe  had  expressed  a  singular,  but 
well-defined  longing.  The  beast  meas 
ured  twenty-four  feet,  and  by  stretching 
the  story  a  little,  I  was  able  to  say 
twenty-seven. 

"  My  dear  fellow,"  I  said,  "  I  am 
sincerely  glad  to  see  you  back  alive." 

"  Thank  you,  old  man,"  he  said, 
falling  easily  into  English  slang.  u  Do 


28  MR.  JACOBS. 

you  know  I  have  a  superstition  that  I 
must  fulfil  every  wish  of  hers.  Besides, 
the  skin  will  fetch  a  capital  price." 

"I  adore  you,"  murmured  Miss 
Eastinhoe.  "  I  shall  have  the  ears 
pickled." 


MR.  JACOBS. 


29 


CHAPTER  XI. 

AN  old  yogi  stood  near  an  older  well. 
He  put  a  stone  in  the  bucket,  and  the 
slave  conld  not  draw  it  up.  Suddenly 
the  bottom  came  out,  and  the  stout  water- 
carrier  fell  headlong  backwards  on  the 
grass. 

11  Did  you  ever  see  anything  of  that 
kind  before,  Miss  Eastinhoe?"  I  in 
quired. 

"  No,  indeed/'  she  replied.  "I  al 
ways  before  supposed  that  to  fall  head 
long  a  man  must  go  forwards." 

"  I  am  off  to  see  a  Certain  Mighty 
Personage,"  Mr.  Jacobs  remarked,  stoop 
ing  casually  from  his  saddle  to  kiss  Miss 


30  MR.  JACOBS. 

Eastinhoe  on  her  white  gold  hair,  which 
shone  so  that  it  made  the  moon  look,  on 
the  whole,  rather  sickly,  as  an  electric 
light  pales  the  gas-jet.  «  If  I  want  JOu , 
I'll  send  for  yon.  Lamb  Ral  has  a  Star 
Route  contract  and  will  bring  you  word." 
He  rode  away,  and  I  pensively  smoked 
my  tiffin. 


MR.  JACOBS.  31 


CHAPTER    XII. 

THE  afternoon  mail  brought  me  a 
postal-card  : 

"  I  shall  want  you  after  all.  Please 
ride  night  and  day  for  a  week.  It  is  a 
matter  of  life  and  death." 

Changing  horses  every  five  or  six 
miles,  I  rode  over  the  greater  part  of  Asia, 
subsisting  on  a  light  but  elegant  diet  of 
chocolate  caramels.  Then  I  stopped  to 
take  tiffin  with  a  striking-looking  fellow 
in  a  dirty  brown  cloth  caftan.  Jacobs' 
face  changed  when  I  gave  him  a  silver 
box  Miss  Eastinhoe  sent  him. 

u  I  gave  her  this  myself  ; "  he  said  ;  tl  it 
is  only  plated." 


32  MR.   JACOBS. 

"Mr.  Briggs,"  interposed  Lamb  Ral, 
with  decision,  "  we  are  about  to  go 
down  into  the  valley.  If  you  see  any 
man  attacking  Mr.  Jacobs,  knock  him 
down.  If  you  cannot  do  that,  shoot  him 
under  the  arm.  At  any  rate  dispose  of 
him.  I  am  not  Wiggins,  but  I  predict  a 
storm." 


MR.  JACOBS.  33 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

AFTER  tiffin  we  went  down  into  the  val 
ley  to  meet  the  emissary  of  a  Certain 
Mighty  Person  and  Number  One.  The 
emissary  advanced  with  a  scroll  so 
illegible  that  Jacobs  bent  over  it  in  de 
spair.  Taking  advantage  of  his  absorp 
tion,  the  villain  put  his  hand  upon  my 
friend's  shoulder.  I  sprang  upon  him 
like  a  bull-dog. 

Meanwhile  Lamb  Ral  created  a  pleas 
ant  diversion  by  drawing  down  from  the 
sky  a  blood-curdling  fog,  heavier  than 
the  after-dinner  speech  of  an  alderman, 
more  dense  than  the  public  taste,  more 
paral}Tzing  than  the  philosophy  of  the 


34  MR.  JACOBS. 

last  popular  novel.  Dread  and  cottony, 
like  a  curtain,  descended  the  awful  cloud 
into  the  uplifted  arms  of  the  sleight-of- 
hand  man,  until  I  could  not  see  an  inch 
before  my  nose.  Nevertheless  I  was 
able  to  observe  that  he  had  stretched 
himself,  probably  by  an  arrangement  of 
crossed  levers,  to  an  incalculable 
height,  and  I  distinctly  observed  him 
wink  with  one  eye  as  I  kneaded  my 
adversary. 

As  I  had  just  snapped  the  arm  of 
the  emissary  like  a  pipe-stem  and  the 
rest  had  each  killed  somebody,  the  mist 
was  opportune  and  our  party  skulked 
back  to  camp,  where  we  all  drank  a 
good  deal  of  tiffin.  The  result  of  our 
imbibing  was  that  Jacobs  clapped  Num 
ber  One  on  the  shoulder. 


MR.  JACOBS.  35 

"  You're  a  bully  good  fellow,"  he  ob 
served,  thickly.  "  Git!" 

Lamb  Ral  and  Number  One  disap 
peared  in  a  red  light,  with  plaintive 
music  from  the  orchestra. 


36  MR.  JACOBS. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

WE  returned  home. 

"  Miss  Eastinlioe  is  dead !  "  I  said  to 
Mr.  Jacobs. 

"  It  is  really  better,"  remarked  Lamb 
Hal,  who  chanced  to  be  astrally  present, 
being  also  in  Ireland  with  Number  One 
at  the  same  moment.  "  There  was 
absolutely  no  other  way  of  concluding 
the  story.  She  wouldn't  be  a  fourth 
wife  ;  besides,  she  was  so  shadowy  a  per 
sonage  that  nobody  cared  anything 
about  her." 

"  No,"  said  Mr.  Jacobs.  "  I  had 
wholly  forgotten  that." 

"  You  had  better  go  and  be  a  nun," 


MR.  JACOBS.  37 

Lamb  Ral  continued,  reclining  upon  a 
tiffin.  u  Trade  is  dull,  and  your  last 
trick  in  glass  emeralds  has  been  discov 
ered." 

"On  the  whole  I  think  I  will,"  replied 
Jacobs.  "Briggs,  I  have  given  my  for 
tune  to  Miss  Eastinhoe's  brother,  who 
rescued  me  from  the  gutter.  To  you  I 
give  this  diamond.  I  know  you  too  well 
to  trust  you  with  anything  else.  Nay," 
he  added,  seeing  my  inquiring  look, 
"  do  not  ask  its  price  or  try  it  with  a  file 
until  I  am  gone." 

"  You  won't  come  and  be  a  nun  your 
self,  Mr.  Briggs?"  Lamb  Ral  inquired, 
with  some  apprehension. 

"  Thanks,  no,"  I  answered,  drawing 
my  tiffin  over  my  shoulders,  "  I'll  write 
the  thing  up." 


38  MR.  JACOBS. 

"  Thank  you,  noble  friend,"  Jacobs 
said,  grasping  my  hand  with  emotion. 
4 '  You  have  been  the  instructor  and  the 
genius  of  my  love.  I  go  to  be  a  nun. 
Be  yourself  what  you  have  made  me." 

One  last,  loving  look, —  one  more  pres 
sure  of  the  reluctant  fingers,  and  those 
two  went  out,  hand  in  hand,  under  the 
clear  stars,  and  I  saw  them  no  more. 


MR.  JACOBS.  39 


POSTSCRIPT. 

I  AFTERWARDS  ascertained  that  the 
fortune  left  to  Mr.  Eastiuhoe  consisted 
chiefly  of  the  three  discarded  wives  of 
Mr.  Jacobs. 

"  I  had  no  means  of  supporting 
them,"  Mr.  Eastinhoe  remarked,  gravely, 
—  he  was  from  Bombay,  and  Bombay 
men  never  smile,  —  u  so  I  was  forced  to 
have  them  served  for  tiffin.  What  will 
you  take?" 

"A  peg  of  tiffin,"  I  replied,  with  a 
pensive  sigh. 

FINIS. 


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